Daz could hear the distant sound of buildings collapsing as he approached the barracks, proving that his clones were hard at work.

  "First thing's first, let's upgrade Fort Skip's size," Daz said aloud.

  Madison was excited to watch the barracks grow and morph as it got upgraded, so she cuddled Mr Barrier as she patiently waited. She was enjoying the fact that Daz was having fun far more than she was enjoying the base-building itself, but she still wore a happy expression in her eyes as she watched him and the barracks intently - the barracks in particular.

  "System, upgrade Fort Skip to the next size please," Daz requested. He had to do this first if he wanted to upgrade the barracks since the base's buildings could not be at a larger size modifier than the base itself was, which was mildly annoying, but Daz understood why it was like that. It would be far too easy to exploit otherwise.

  Ideally, he'd max Fort Skip's size right now, but he'd already looked into that, and it was impossible for now. Not only would it cost him more merit points than he already owned, but it would also cost him an insane amount of base points, of which he didn't own enough, nor could he afford to waste them wholly on the size upgrades even if he did have enough.

  "It's half of my base points, but yeah, I kinda need it, so I confirm," Daz answered.

  Daz nodded softly. It had cost him almost no merit points thanks to his Godly Universal Management, although the base points certainly stung him quite a bit. That would limit how he could upgrade the base, for now, that was for certain.

  "System, out of curiosity, are there any more size upgrades for Fort Skip as a base, or can I directly turn it into a city now that it can have ten-thousand registered citizens?" As he waited for an answer, Daz was able to tell that he could now extend Fort Skip's walls all the way out to five-miles west of Waterford, which was four-miles further than the previous limit.

  Daz stroked his chin. Madison mimicked him adorably, but he was too busy thinking out loud right now to notice her actions.

  "I already have Waterford, Middletown and the City Creation Token, so I guess it's a good thing that Fort Skip is kinda forced into staying as a base for a lot longer if it needs to be large. I don't need that kind of temptation. Not that there's a huge difference between a base and a city - as far as I can tell anyway. I'm sure there are some differences, but I guess I'll have to fix up Waterford to see if there are any major ones beyond the citizen population cap," Daz mumbled as he pulled up the information of the barracks' next upgrade.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Yes," Daz answered emotionlessly. He really did detest the double-authorisation, even if he understood why it was there.

  Instantly, the earth began rumbling as the training grounds of the barracks expanded, the main building gained a story and became more professional-looking, and lastly, a whole new wing of the barracks was created out of nowhere.

  General Retford practically burst out of the front door before he threw himself on one knee and crossed his right fist over his chest.

  "My Lord... Words simply cannot begin to express how grateful I am for your care and dedication towards restoring my lost men from the system's grasp..." It was only due to his many years as a soldier and as a man of war that he was able to refrain from crying in front of his current ruler and lord.

  Daz shrugged. "You and your soldiers have been very helpful so far, so I see no reason not to continue to restore your power. By the way, what's your max rank? I've no clue how the system is judging you or why it's labelled you as an 'S-rank' General, but my instincts are telling me that you're a lot stronger now. You'd make me sweat if we fought."

  "My Lord, you are too humble. I would be lucky to even so much as scratch a single hair on your head." William's opinion of Daz had completely flip-flopped since he had been purchased along with his barracks and the few scraps of his army that he still had left.

  He took a brief moment to admire his lord in his mind before he stood up and bowed his head respectfully. "At my prime, My Lord, the system classified me as an SS-rank General. Perhaps had I all of my powers, I'd be able to act as your training partner. Of course, only if you wished for such a thing."

  'He's really happy that I'm treating him better than his last owner? Didn't he say it was a powerful sorcerer on some newly tested world that treated him and his men like disposable pawns and never bothered to revive them? I'm honestly the same, except I don't mind bringing them back. I guess that makes a big difference, huh? His loyalty is at Max now, one rank shy of Maddy's absurd Incalculable,' Daz noted as he used Master Identification on the man and nodded in satisfaction at his increased stats.

  "I'd like that, Will. I've got other things to do right now though, so we'll be leaving. See you later," Daz said to the lion-like man.

  "Of course, My Lord. However, I have a request, if I might borrow your ear for a minute," General Retford said. He seemed to be completely unaffected by Daz calling him 'Will' now unlike previously. In fact, he almost seemed proud, that was if the smile on his face was anything to trust.

  Daz raised an eyebrow. "What's up? You and your men need something?"

  "Well, not quite. One of your personal guards, Sten. He's taken a liking to the vehicle you call a 'tank', My Lord. I intended to punish him for asking me to relay this to you, but when he claimed that he only wanted it to help you and your territories... I couldn't refuse. He's a good man, as goofy and childish as he and his friend, Leston, are." General Retford shook his head softly, fully expecting to get chastised for asking for the lord's possessions.

  "The guards that are always playing cards outside of the keep? Sure. I don't mind. I'm not really doing anything with the tank, nor do I plan to. It's more of a novelty at this point, so tell Sten he's free to use it however he likes," Daz said a bit dismissively.

  William struck his chest with his fist once again and closed his eyes as he inclined his head. "He is unworthy of your kindness, My Lord."

  Daz scratched his head a bit awkwardly. "I kinda preferred it when you acted like you hated me. You don't need to be like that, but stop being so stiff, please. Crosius and Lyle are bad enough as it is."

  "I... I'll try. It's been quite some time since I last had someone ruling me that I thought was worthy to do so, so it's a bit hard to not treat you with the utmost respect," General Retford admitted.

  Madison nodded her head fervently. "Daz, cool. Respect, understandable."

  Both Daz and William smiled at Madison's cuteness. Daz patted General Retford's shoulder twice before he walked past him. "Well, I'm very busy right now. We can spar later. Until then."

  "Of course, My Lord. I look forward to it," William responded as he stood in place. He only returned to the barracks after Daz, Rimmy, Madison and Mr Barrier were all clearly out of sight.

  As he walked through the now expanded halls of his barracks, he ran his fingers across the walls and smiled faintly. "I should try to earn my freedom as soon as possible. With access to merit points, my men and I could help the lord so much more than we currently can in our pitiable state right now..."

  "System, I wanna wall off the new borders to Fort Skip. Can you show me the best walls that have self-defense features built-in? Make sure I can afford it. It'll be the last base upgrade I buy for now probably. Also, don't bother showing me the materials that I could use to buy it with. I already know I won't have them." Naturally, Daz wanted to upgrade Fort Skip more, but he simply couldn't, considering how limited he was by Fort Skip's base point balance.

  If he was lucky, the wall wouldn't cost more than four-hundred-thousand base points, but factoring in how it was going to be five-miles long and possess self-defensive features, he wasn't very hopeful.

  "Yeah, buy it. Thank you," Daz said. "A bit heavy on the merit points, but at least I have enough base points for it."

  He was a bit upset that he wouldn't be able to buy anything else with his remaining base points except for a handful of houses or a crummy utility building, but that'd be a waste. At least with this, he had far more space to work with and he could now freely focus on getting new upgrades for Fort Skip the next time that he had some base points.

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